I'll add more detailed comments later. For now it will suffice for me to say I loved the unpredictability of first and last places, and the awesome new editing scheme! I missed some of the airport stuff, though.

:sucks

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"The authority of example and considerations of character, unlike pudding, are not whipped up in an instant." - Neal A. Maxwell

I did not miss any of the airport drama. Just thinking back to TAR12 when one half of an episode involved booking tickets, getting in line, making phone calls, going back and forth between ticket agents, that was just unnecessary. Glad to see the show going back to basics. They can show the airport drama in the Insider clips. Leave the show to Racing.

I did miss some of it, but with a first episode you have to devote so much time for team intro's.

I do hope we get cash, and a little bit of airport drama (becuase its one place teams are often all together at), but...unless its a special case like the airport hell in All Stars, or the one time in Season 12. But for the most part anything more then a few minutes isn't needed.

I thought the premiere was definitely very intense, but also kind of rushed. It seems that they've done away with the race to the airport and the race to get the first or second flight.

Well, other than that, I liked the tasks, as well as the twist in taking one of two different trains to Locarno.

My thoughts on the teams:

Margie & Luke: Cute dynamic and capable team. They ran a surprisingly excellent first leg, despite Luke's deafness. It was a well-earned win, and I loved Phil signing to Luke that they'd won the leg.

Tammy & Victor: Look like a force to be reckoned with, and they remind me somewhat of Henry & Bernie from TARA3. But . . . the fact that Victor pulled out the single most annoying facet of Nick's strategy from last season (from what I've heard, even some fans who liked him and Starr were annoyed by that one) right from the get-go, and managed to somehow be more obnoxious about it than Nick, is not a good sign. I like Tammy, and she seems like a smarter racer than Starr. I respect the team's apparent racing skill, but I'm worried that, over the long haul, Victor's going to bug me. The villains? Probably. They're already not fully trusted by some of the other teams.

Mark & Michael: Not much seen of them on the first leg, but so far, I like them. Their backgrounds as stuntmen will help them face any scary challenge. And they seem pretty funny, too.

Mel & Mike: Another pair of funny guys. And they might be the first father/son team I actually turn out to like. (Dennis & Andrew were kind of "meh" to me, and I hated Steve & Josh.) They ran a pretty good leg, too, but I have a feeling an overly-physical task will be their undoing.

Amanda & Kris: Amanda already starting out with the whining makes me think they'll not only not win, but they also won't be lasting very long. Or, if they do, then they just won't win. That's all I can really say about them right now.

Brad & Victoria: I guess it was a good idea to lie to Christie & Jodi to at least ensure that one team stays behind them. But let's hope they don't keep that up. That said, definitely the oldster team that'll last longer. They ran a decent leg and were the only team not to fall down at the cheese task.

Jaime & Cara: My favorite team in the race right now. Would've finished higher if not for that bad luck in finding a taxi. Still, they did decently with the cheese and notched a decent, seventh-place finish. I hope they can rebound next week.

Kisha & Jen: They look to be the next Monica & Sheree. Not much seen from them, but I guess they did decently enough on this leg. They could last a while.

Steve & Linda: I like Steve. I do. But Linda annoys me already. If you're gonna cry on the very first leg, and for the reason you did it, no less, then you have no place in the race. Good strategy in getting the cheese task done, I guess, but other than that, I hope this is the oldest team that lasts for the shorter amount of time, entirely because of Linda.

Christie & Jodi: I was really surprised at them from going from being the first team to get to the church thanks to that local who tipped them off about changing trains, to nearly being eliminated due to bad train info. Still, good job on them for actually pulling through when they needed to, in order to make up for all of that lost time, and I love that they only barely beat out Preston & Jennifer. And speaking of whom . . .

Preston & Jennifer: Glad they're gone. I've had enough young dating couples treating the race as couples therapy. They'd have gotten annoying to me, and very quickly. Jennifer was so damn useless, too, and that's probably what contributed to their elimination, more than anything. Good riddance to bad rubbish! I'm actually more or less fine with everyone left now that they're gone.

Great premiere, if a little rushed, and a great cast so far! And my impressions are:

And also, it's interesting to see the different dynamics when gay family members are involved. Compare the cases of Duke/Lauren and Dennis/Andrew with Ken/Gerard, Margie/Luke (I read somewhere that he's gay too) and Mel/Mike. The former two struggled a lot and were eliminated early because they had bad dynamics (both teams said in their intros that they where racing in order to begin accepting their children coming out of the closet), whereas in the latter three, both team members were comfortable with each other and placed quite high. It's obvious that this moral support is vital for success in the Race. M&M and M&L will do well until a task hits their Achilles' Heel. (I deliberately let Susan/Patrick out because they were an exception, they had good teamwork, but were too focused on Romber).

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The story so far:In the beginning the Universe was created.This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move

I also read it one story that Luke was gay. But since nothing else has mentioned that, I do wonder if they got their press material screwed up and it was about Mike.

As for Lauren & Duke, it did seem that at some point Duke really had a problem with it. I never got that feeling from Dennis (though I am sure he had difficulties with it), it didn't seem to be an issue that they had.

I know, that my parents never let me know if my homo***uality bothered them (I am sure it was tough on them), and I get more of that vibe from Dennis.

I had the same thoughts about the rolling bags, but they are certainly used to packing them and hauling them around. My first thought was how they would like pulling them through sand.....but then remembered the route this time and no deserts apparently.....

I had the same thoughts about the rolling bags, but they are certainly used to packing them and hauling them around. My first thought was how they would like pulling them through sand.....but then remembered the route this time and no deserts apparently.....

Yeah but they don't know that....I mean sure on streets tehy are great, but country side not so much and you know they are going to have to face that a lot, no matter where they go.

It reminds me of this japanese drama I saw last month. It was called Attention Please and it was about a tomboy rocker girl wanting to become a flight attendant. And they were always dragging their bags XD

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The story so far:In the beginning the Universe was created.This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move

Loved it! The cheese was hysterical! I was worried at first that there would be penalties for stacking the cheeses that were not brought down on the carriers. But as there was no penalty, it seems that letting them roll down the hill might have been the easiest, though rather dangerous. Perhaps using the carriers as sleds and just pulling them down would have been the best strat. I was so happy to see Linda smiling at the end.

I was surprised that Christie and Jodi had so much trouble with the train schedule

I'm rooting for Mark and Michael or the Mother/Son team only because I like their dynamic together so far.

If you listen carefully as the teams read the clue about the cheese thing, it is never said that you had to use the carriers to bring the cheese down. It only said that you had to pick out two carriers and take them to the top of the hill. Teams just assumed that you had to use the carriers to bring the cheeses down. But it was soon obvious that these carriers were made very flimsily and probably were expected to break. TPTB wanted to see how much ingenuity teams would show. Actually it was Steve who right at the start made a sled out of the carrier to slide three down the hill, while Linda slid down on her backside holding one cheese. By using this maneuver they moved from 10th up to 6th but got lost and ended up at the mat as the 9th team. I suppose it would have been alright to just rolls them down the hill, gather them up at the bottom and carry them over to the shed. And if your aim was right, you might be able to rolls the wheels of cheese right down to the hut!

A lot of time must have been spent on this task, or Christie and Jodi were not that far behind since when they arrived only four stacks of four cheese were by the shed. No other cheeses were by the wall by the other seven teams.

I thought the premiere was definitely very intense, but also kind of rushed. It seems that they've done away with the race to the airport and the race to get the first or second flight.

Well, other than that, I liked the tasks, as well as the twist in taking one of two different trains to Locarno.

My thoughts on the teams:

Margie & Luke: Cute dynamic and capable team. They ran a surprisingly excellent first leg, despite Luke's deafness. It was a well-earned win, and I loved Phil signing to Luke that they'd won the leg.

Tammy & Victor: Look like a force to be reckoned with, and they remind me somewhat of Henry & Bernie from TARA3. But . . . the fact that Victor pulled out the single most annoying facet of Nick's strategy from last season (from what I've heard, even some fans who liked him and Starr were annoyed by that one) right from the get-go, and managed to somehow be more obnoxious about it than Nick, is not a good sign. I like Tammy, and she seems like a smarter racer than Starr. I respect the team's apparent racing skill, but I'm worried that, over the long haul, Victor's going to bug me. The villains? Probably. They're already not fully trusted by some of the other teams.

Mark & Michael: Not much seen of them on the first leg, but so far, I like them. Their backgrounds as stuntmen will help them face any scary challenge. And they seem pretty funny, too.

Mel & Mike: Another pair of funny guys. And they might be the first father/son team I actually turn out to like. (Dennis & Andrew were kind of "meh" to me, and I hated Steve & Josh.) They ran a pretty good leg, too, but I have a feeling an overly-physical task will be their undoing.

Amanda & Kris: Amanda already starting out with the whining makes me think they'll not only win, but they also won't be lasting very long. Or, if they do, then they just won't win. That's all I can really say about them right now.

Brad & Victoria: I guess it was a good idea to lie to Christie & Jodi to at least ensure that one team stays behind them. But let's hope they don't keep that up. That said, definitely the oldster team that'll last longer. They ran a decent leg and were the only team not to fall down at the cheese task.

Jaime & Cara: My favorite team in the race right now. Would've finished higher if not for that bad luck in finding a taxi. Still, they did decently with the cheese and notched a decent, seventh-place finish. I hope they can rebound next week.

Kisha & Jen: They look to be the next Monica & Sheree. Not much seen from them, but I guess they did decently enough on this leg. They could last a while.

Steve & Linda: I like Steve. I do. But Linda annoys me already. If you're gonna cry on the very first leg, and for the reason you did it, no less, then you have no place in the race. Good strategy in getting the cheese task done, I guess, but other than that, I hope this is the oldest team that lasts for the shorter amount of time, entirely because of Linda.

Christie & Jodi: I was really surprised at them from going from being the first team to get to the church thanks to that local who tipped them off about changing trains, to nearly being eliminated due to bad train info. Still, good job on them for actually pulling through when they needed to, in order to make up for all of that lost time, and I love that they only barely beat out Preston & Jennifer. And speaking of whom . . .

Preston & Jennifer: Glad they're gone. I've had enough young dating couples treating the race as couples therapy. They'd have gotten annoying to me, and very quickly. Jennifer was so damn useless, too, and that's probably what contributed to their elimination, more than anything. Good riddance to bad rubbish! I'm actually more or less fine with everyone left now that they're gone.

Great premiere, if a little rushed, and a great cast so far! And my impressions are: